Gil's Big Night

I was going to include this in my previous post about Carmelo, but I thought Gilbert deserved his own post after putting up 60 against Kobe and the Lakers last night. I didn't actually catch the game — I wish I was in the DC the past days because of Ovechkin and Arenas — but I did see the highlights and the aftermath. Gilbert simply put the Wiz on his back in front of the team he dreamed of playing for as a child. It didn't matter if Kobe was covering him or that Kobe was equally hot from the floor. Gilbert was not going to lose this game. Gilbert has really elevated himself into the upper echelon of NBA players. Frankly, besides DWade and Lebron, what other guard in the east is better than Gilbert? And while on the subject of Kobe Bryant, he lost a lot of respect in my book with his comments after the game:

"You tip your hat and say, 'See you next time.' "I don't think he has a conscience. I really don't. He was chucking out there. He took some horrible shots and he made some big ones. I don't get a chance to play him much. I'll be ready next time."

So wait, Kobe is criticizing Gilbert's shot selection. Just think about that for a second. An interesting stat from the aftermath is that Arenas was just the second player ever to put up 60 against the Lakers. The other: Wilt Chamberlain. And speaking of the Wizards, they've now won 8 of 10 and are two games over .500. The way they are playing right now, they can beat anyone in the east. Obviously they don't play enough defense to compete with the best teams in the west. That Lakers team they beat last night at Staples is a damn good squad, so that should be chalked up as another quality win from a team that has recently beaten the Nuggets, Mavs, Pistons, and Heat. They have three more games to go in this short, 4-game western road trip. Next up is the Nuggets in a couple days. That game looks real winnable now considering the Nugs will lmost certainly be without Carmelo, and possibly J.R. Smith and Marcus Camby as well. I'll have more later on how impressed I am with the job Ernie Grunfeld has done as Wizards general manager.


Gilbert might be the best guard in the league besides DWade and Lebron

Carmelo's Baltimore roots come out

I thought I would first address the best boxing match to hit Madison Square Garden in years. The little brawl between the Knicks and the Nuggets was highly entertaining. I actually didn't see the thing live, but was at the bar here in Ann Arbor when it came on Sportscenter. Since I couldn't hear the anchors, I just figured it was your regular boring Knicks game. Then it all started to unfold. Hard foul by Mardy Collins, the Nate Robinson form tackle into the crowd, and the capper of course...the Carmelo sucker punch. I think it's pretty obvious 'Melo has lost any street cred he ever had. He ran away from Mardy Collins like he had stolen something. The last thing he wanted was to get involved with big ol' Jared Jeffries. Personally, I think Jared would be a money boxer, those arms are just so long. For Melo it just confirmed to me what a terrible city Baltimore is. Only a native of BMore, like Carmelo, would first sucker punch someone, and then run away like he was getting chased by the dog from Sandlot.

I'm feeling a 10-game suspension for Carmelo, although David Stern will probably make it more like 20. Let's be honest here, Carmelo probably lost a boatload of potential endorsements, a ton of respect, and a possible MVP trophy all because he's a "thug". And all this talk about Isaiah Thomas's role in the brawl is hilarious to me. I think it's pretty obvious that Isaiah called for the hard foul. Notice that Mardy Collins did the dirty work. You didn't see any KNicks regulars like Stevie Franchise, Stephon, or David Lee sprinting down the court after J.R. Smith. But I like that fire from Isaiah. He felt his team was getting disrespected by George Karl, and he got mean and nasty. He should get suspended for a couple games, but I think this could be a turning point for the Knicks. We'll see.




Let's be honest: Jared would have owned 'Melo

The brilliance of Snoop Dogg

There's a man in the spotlight who simply fascinates me. He has been arrested countless times for crimes as simple as possession of marijuana and as gruesome as first degree murder. Yet he remains one of the most prolific people in America. He is Snoop Dogg. Is there anyone else who could get arrested and it would raise their profile. Literally everytime the man gets caught with pot, it only makes him more money. It only adds to the image that he sells. And this is all just 10 years after he was oh so close to being thrown in jail for life. Whoever gives him career advice is a genius. The man simply sells records, smokes weed, and has a good time, not to mention he makes millions. Rolling Stone recently profiled the greatness that is Snoop Dogg, and it produced this gem of a quote from one of the single-funniest human beings alive. It all has to do with his 2003 red carpet appearance at the MTV VMA Awards in which he had two prostitutes follow him on leashes (like dogs). Here is an exerpt from the article:

"I was flexin my pimp muscle and lettin' people see how real pimps do it. If you really a pimp, you should be able to get two bitches to walk on a leash with you down the red carpet and be yo ho's for the night. And when I did it, it really was pimpin'." I had thought it was all for show, metaphorical pimpin', but Snoop says it really was pimpin' with so much feeling, I can't help but think that he was a professional pimp. Indeed, for two years, he was. "I wouldn't even say a real pimp," he says. "I'd just say I had it like that. See, that shit was my natural calling and once I got involved in it, it became fun. It was like shootin' layups for me. I was makin' 'em every time. Cuz pimpin' ain't a job, it's a sport. I had a bitch on every exit from the 10 freeway to the 101 freeway, cuz bitches would recruit for me. I had barricudas — seven or eight of 'em. When a bitch recruits for you, she goes out into the club or the environment and brings back other bitches and makes 'em my ho's. That's pimpin'"
A true God amongst men

Braylon Edwards sighting

I just got back from the epic clash between Michigan and Delaware State in basketball. The game really lived up to all the hype the media gave it, with the Wolverines barely edging the Hornets 70-49. But in all seriousness, the game was boring as hell except for a couple sweet dunks by Air Georgia, Brent Petway. However, the highlight of the game for me was interviewing Braylon Edwards at halftime. Braylon was at CRisler because the Browns played on Thursday night. And I asked him the question that seems to be on every Michigan football fans mind right now: What does he think about the BCS and specifically the debate between Michigan and Florida? And here was his response...

"It's bullshit. Until the BCS gets a playoff system, the BCS will always be a joke. The team that always gets left out will always have a problem with it. I don't agree with the whole make-up of it. I think over half the population of the country would agree with me that it doesn't work. I believe Michigan is the best team in the country with the exception of Ohio State. "

Seeing as I am still in awe of some of the catches Braylon made during my freshman year, I attempted to keep our conversation going for as long as possible. That meant asking him about the Browns.

"Obviously, we aren't a playoff team this year, so my goal is to finish the year with a 1,000 yards (receiving). And next year, we just have to be better than we were this year. The team has to get on the same page."

From my standpoint it looks like Braylon is dedicated to this whole team thing over in Cleveland. Clearly, when he shoved Charlie Frye on the sideline, in front of all the cameras a couple weeks ago, he was doing it for the team. But actually I think Braylon is awesome even if he used to stand outside Touchdowns after wins and fish for compliments.

Maybe Braylon is a fucking soldier too?

Everyone knows my hate for Philly runs deep

This Sunday the Redskins have the chance to do something that will make me a very happy human being. The Eagles come to Fedex fighting for their playoff lives, while the Redskins are stuck in the all-too-familiar medicrity zone. See, my hate for the Eagles started way back in the days of Heath Shuler/Gus Frerotte. It was Shuler's first season with the Skins and he had been blowing as the starter. I was at my first ever home Skins game, my only Skins game at RFK, and we losing to the Eagles 7-0 in the fourth quarter. Neither team was particularly good, with the Skins being downright awful and the Eagles being average. Our offense had been so woeful, that I did the unthinkable. I joined with the masses in chanting "We want Gus". I still regret this decision to this day. Norv Turner didn't put Gus in that day, but the Skins were shut out by the Eagles. I believe the final score was 13-0. But I will never forget the jackass Eagles fans in RFK that day chanting "E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles! It made me sick.

Flash forward to the year 2000. You know, that magical year where the Skins picked up Primetime, Team Smith, and Mark Carrier among others. Remember how the Skins started the year 7-2? Well, at this point they had lost three in a row and were sitting at 7-5. I arrived at Fedex to see this NFC East battle, as the Eagles were in the playoff chase because of Donovan McNabb. And of course, the Eagles embarassed us. I will never, ever forget the touchdown run by McNabb where he absolutely juked the daylights out of Mark Carrier on a humiliating 50+ yard touchdown run that literally broke the backs of the Redskins. I really don't think the team fully recovered from that season until Gibbs came back.

There's so many reasons to hate the Eagles. And I just want to demoralize their annoying fans so badly. I don't think I take pleasure in a person getting injured, except in the case of Donovan McNabb. That douchebag has taken years off my life with the damage he has done to my Skins. So to see him hurt and unable to play makes me one of the happiest people on the planet. I hope he never returns to being the player he once was. It sounds harsh, but that's just how much I hate the guy. It was probably the biggest reason why I though the one year we had with Marty Schottenheimer was so awesome. We swept the Eagles. I know for the Skins there's nothing but pride left for this season. I realize we need to see Jason Campbell recover from that Falcons game. And what better way is there for him to endear himself to Washington, D.C and me than by sticking a stake through the Eagles' hearts.

Will you hire me?

It's been a rough week up here in Ann Arbor. The common theme seems to be getting screwed. Michigan got screwed out of the national championship because the SEC complains more than any person who ever swam at Mohican/Regency Estates. If you want to know who ahould really be in the national championship ask Vanderbilt's head coach. His team played both the Wolverines and the Gators in their respective home stadiums. In his coaches poll ballot he voted Michigan number 2.

The other screw jobs involve myself. I'm screwed royally in the intership marker. So far I've heard back from 14 newspapers, and I've been rejected by 13. The one yes came from The Modesto Bee in Modesto, California, but I really don't want that to be my only option. And then just today I got screwed out of a promotion at The Daily even though I fimrly believe I was the mot qualified. It seems as if the prejudices against Mark the Frat Boy came back to bite me in the ass. I'm sorry I have more friends, drink more booze, and have more fun than the powers-that-be at the paper.

The only good news is that at least I'm not Peter Krauss.

Fallout from a stunning Sunday

I'm going to sound biased because I'm a Michigan student, but the BCS National Championship decision tonight is a joke. You can't tell me with a straight face that Florida could beat the Wolverines on a neutral field. The same Gator team that lost to Auburn, and nearly lost numerous other games. I dont want to hear this nonsense about the SEC being the better conference. You can't punish this Michigan team simply because the Big Ten was down. They played the consensus number one team in the nation in a hostile, road environment and came damn close to a win. That being said, I will still be rooting for Florida, because the last thing I want is for those people from Ohio State to have another national title. This Florida team looks a lot like that Buckeye national title team from 2001. They keep winning close and they might just sneak up on the Buckeyes come January 8.

Now the Maize and Blue turn its attention to the Rose Bowl where they will face an extremely good USC team. This game is definitely going to be a nailbiter. It really could go either way since both teams are very well balanced. I think USC's receivers will be the best the Michigan defense has seen all season. But I also think that the defensive line of the Wolverines is a whole lot better than anything in the Pac-10.

If we look at this Rose Bowl with some foresight, it could set up as a preview for the 2008 National Championship. Both Michigan and USC should bring back a good number of regulars. Whichever team wins this game will more than likely head into the 2008 season with the number one ranking. What's sad is that pretty much every other bowl game is a bit of a downer. Boise State vs. Oklahoma...blah. Notre vs. LSU...The Tigers are going to crush the Irish...Louisville vs. Wake Forest...Neither is an elite team. And don't get me started on the bush league that is Fox covering the BCS. Let good, old reliable ABC do what they are best at and broadcast the biggest games of the year.

Michigan basketball is consistent...at sucking

I had one helluva few days there right after Thanksgiving Break. I left Monday afternoon from Potomac to go to Raleigh, NC to cover the Michigan-NC State basketball game. After I wrote my story at the RBC Center, I left Raleigh at like 1130pm, returning to Potomac at 4am. I then left for the airport to catch a plane back to Michigan at 530am. I returned to my room at 10am. Was it worth it? Well I did get to sit courtside at a nice arena, within arms reach of Danny Ainge. That was sweet.

But while at the RBC Center I witnessed a basketball team that I thought was NCAA Tournament-worthy get dissected by an NC State team that wasn't that good. I figure the Wolfpack are going to be a bottom-tier team in the ACC, especially now that Maryland is playing well beyond anybody's expectations. And Michigan just got crushed by them. The final score doesn't indicate it, but Michigan was completely outplayed by a team that had just six scholarship players on its roster. Then Engin Atsur, probably their best player, got hurt before the first TV timeout of the first half. And the Wolverines still lost.

As I sat there below the basket, I came to a realization about Michigan and Tommy Amaker in general. Amaker has this team playing high-pressure man to man defense just like the Duke teams he played and coached for in the past. He also runs basically the same motion offense that Duke plays. The only difference is that he just doesn't have the Duke athletes to pull it off. Time and time again on Monday night, NC State players would just blow by a Michigan defender for an easy layup. And on offense, Michigan's best interior scorer, Courtney Sims, simply couldn't keep up with the pace of the game. Watching him meander down the court, it was so obvious that he's just a big stiff. This game will come back to bite them in the ass because the WOlfpack just aren't that good. But that just means Michigan is worse. I see 18 wins for this Wolverine team. But even that will be misleading since 12 of those wins are going to come before Big Ten season. Michigan's non-conference schedule is a joke this year. They had/have all cupcakes except for NC State, Georgetown at home, and UCLA on the road. And I think it's pretty obvious that the GTown and UCLA games can be chalked up as losses right now. That leaves them at 12-3 heading into Big Ten season, and a 6-10 record in the Big Ten. Tommy Amaker, you are the master of mediocrity.

The Seven Locks Showdown

I'm sitting here in the friendly confines of my home basking in the glory of a pretty solid Thanksgiving. This morning we had a pretty sick little 4-on-4 football game at the old stomping grounds, Seven Locks Elementary School. It was lame that more people didn't show up, but it was raining. Teams went like this:

The Giannotto Brothers, The Broonsta, and Willman Lazartay vs.

Chachi, Miller, Bruno Baiao's brother, and Cahill Magic.

The first misstep of the day was Miller wearing this bullshit Ohio State t shirt to the game. Big mistake. The Gods were definitely against his team for that one. I was matched up on Magic for most of the game, and for most of the game he was playing quarterback. So naturally, in honor of Graham Townsend, I tried to do my best Shawne Merriman impression. The key word was tried. After such a dominating performance in the mud about a month ago, I followed it up with a lackluster showing. I was slipping and sliding all over the place, although I did manage a couple TDs and a couple sacks...not to mention a forced fumble and recovery on one of them.

The game started out pretty one-sided. Chachi and Baiao's speed were killing myself, Broon and Willman. Luckily Jeff is in the middle of wrestling season, so he was in the best shape out of all of us. But after falling behind 2-0, we stepped it up. While at first the Broonsta was playing QB, we realized we needed him as a receiving threat. The youngest Giannotto took on the challenge of playing quarterback in the same valiant manner that I took the Mudbowl team on my shoulders against Beta this year. It was a Tony Romoesque performance by Jeff, as he brought us to a 3-3 tie heading into halftime.

The unsung hero throughout was the Broonsta. If Jeff was Romo, Broon was Terry Glenn..i.e damn good receiver who doesn't get enough press because he's overshadowed by a player who talks too much (me). I really think the big mistake for Chachi's team was putting Cahill on Broon for a majority of the game. Well, and the fact that Cahill couldn't hold onto the ball. Magic gave up a sure TD in the first half as he fumbled while trying to reach over the goal plane, and then fumbled again late in the game as I sacked him.

As you can probably tell from the tone of my writing, our team, led by Jeffrey Ross Giannotto came out storming in the second half. The Giannotto-Broonsta connection was apparently passed down through my genes. They ran roughshod over a secondary that simply had too many breakdowns. Throw in some careless turnovers by Patchie's team and a ball hawking secondary (also led by Jeff)and you have a runaway victory for my team.

MVP of the Seven Locks Showdown: Jeff "Future Mudbowl MVP" Giannotto

Goat of the Showdown: Patrick "I don't wanna wear a speedo" Cahill

The Michael George Battey Memorial Award for absolute hilarity: Mark "The Reigning Mudbowl MVP" Giannotto for slipping and falling on his face on a perfectly timed cornerback blitz. Because of the slip the defense was exposed and a touchdown was scored. This will probably be the last time this award is given to someone other than Battey himself because he is currently somewhere in this great world of ours on a big ass boat. Ordinarily, Battey just playing in the game is hilarious by itself.

Jerome Update

UCONN had three games this weekend. Jerome started in all three of them. He led the team in scoring on Friday night against Central Arkansas with 20. He had a clunker against Fairfield on Saturday afternoon, shooting 1-for-7 from the field and scoring 7 points, but the Huskies still won. And then Sunday, against Ole Miss, Jerome poured in another 16 points in another UCONN win. UCONN is now 4-0 and Jerome is averaging a little under 15 points a game on the season so far. I heard he's been doing a lot of visualizing after the game to correct some of the mistakes he's made during the actual games. Rumor has it that he picked up the technique from his legendary high school basketball coach at Churchill High School, Mike Dichov